Fantastic Four: Visits from Goku and Galactus
by puiwaihin
Summary: Galactus is on his way to Earth intent on consuming the planet. With little time to prepare, the Fantastic Four turn to a hero from another universe to save the planet. But will the power of Dragon Ball's Goku be enough to make a difference?
1. Chapter 1

Notes on copyright issues: The characters Goku, Uub, and the saiyan race are the original creations of Akira Toriyama. The Fantastic Four, Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), The Human Torch (Johnny Storm), The Invisible Woman (Sue Storm), Thing (Ben Grimm), The Silver Surfer, and Galactus are the intellectual property of Marvel Comics created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as well as other Marvel artists. Other super hero characters mentioned in this story are also Marvel Comics intellectual property and the creation of their respective artists. This work of "fan fiction" is an original story, however the characters used in the story belong to the aforementioned parties.

**Fantastic 4: Visits from Goku and Galactus**

It was a typical day in Four Freedoms Plaza. The famous New York skyscraper was home of the Fantastic Four as well as fifty floors worth of tenants with rent controlled leases who were not about to give up their Madison Avenue apartments for anything, including Dr. Doom. The tenants were oblivious to what was happening on the top half of the building, though most rightly suspected whatever it was, it was something dangerous and highly likely to end in structural damage to the building and/or whatever aliens or meta-humans were up there with Reed Richards.

Being a typical day, Reed (aka Mr. Fantastic) was tinkering with an impossibly complex device with improbable functions related to the existence of the universe. Ben Grimm, the quasi-orange hulk of a Thing with skin the texture of rock and a composition even more dense and durable than stone was dealing the results. That meant he was trying to clobber the wispy entities swarming around the lab wrecking equipment, but not having much luck with the insubstantial creatures. Sue Storm-Richards, also known as the Invisible Woman, was keeping the creatures at bay by erecting invisible force fields. Her brother, Johnny Storm, was generally ignoring the chaos while he watched cartoons.

"Johnny! Do you want to help, or are you just going to sit there?" asked an exasperated Invisible Woman. Considering that she was perfectly visible and her soft blond hair, beautiful features, and form fitting costume would draw the attention of pretty much any male but her brother, "invisible" was not exactly the right word for her just then. However, she could have been invisible if she had wanted to be.

"I think I'll just sit here. I've only seen this episode of Dragonball Z half a dozen times, and it's a really good one!" came Johnny's half serious reply.

"JOHNNY!" Sue's demanded angrily.

"That's it flame head," came the Thing's gravely voice. "I'm smashing that TV and knocking some responsibility into you!"

"Aw come on, guys, it's not like we're dealing with Galactus or Doom or something," Johnny whined. But when Sue turned the television invisible he got up. "Alright, alright, I'm helping, I'm helping. FLAME ON!"

Instantly, Johnny Storm's entire body was converted to living flame. He burned in the air like a human torch, which was fitting since Human Torch was actually his name as a hero. Johnny targeted one of the entities flying around near some equipment and let loose a torrent of fire that... went right through the whatever it was and made Dr. Richard's instruments melt into a useless puddle of molten metal.

"Johnny!" yelled Mr. Fantastic as he stretched one of his arms out to use a fire extinguisher on the flaming metal, "Stop helping! Go watch TV or something." Mr. Fantastic's other hand was stretched to the other side of the room typing furiously on a keyboard while his neck was elongated so his head could observe the readouts from a monitor in another section.

Ben Grimm grimaced as he struck at one of the entities. His fist passed through the creature yet he felt the impact himself as if he had hit something solid. Sue worked with great concentration and intensity as she tried to contain the creatures who would slip partway through her barriers only to be drawn back in for awhile before eventually slipping completely away as she adjusted her force fields in a futile attempt to better contain them.

"How can we fight these things when they can be tangible and intangible at the same time? These things ain't exactly fighting fair, ya' know?" While Ben Grimm was nowhere near the same mental league as team leader Reed Richards, he was far from dull, having graduated from Empire State University and piloted for NASA.

Johnny Storm couldn't let the opportunity slip by. "They might be saying something similar about you there, 'Thing'," he quipped.

"Ok, this should do it," declared Mr. Fantastic. He turned off the power to one of the devices in his room. Instantly, the battle changed in favor of the Fantastic Four. Sue's force fields contained them without letting parts of them slip through while Thing was able to clobber them any time they tried to affect a physical object. They could still turn intangible, but could not do any harm in that state. In a few short minutes all the creatures were contained and Reed sent them back to the reality they had emerged from.

"It seems that the quantum field that powers the Multiversal Quantum Probability Scanner/Projector which brought those entities into the lab also projects the physical laws of the dimension or reality from which they came into our dimensional space. Even though the access portal to their dimension had been severed, the quantum ambient energy of the field generator served to blend their universe with ours." Reed stated all this matter-of-factly and as if everyone in the room had a perfect understanding of everything he had said.

"Translation, Susie, Stretch screwed up," Ben volunteered to Mr. Fantastic's wife. He was in a good mood now that things were dealt with in a "hands on" sort of way.

"Well, at least things will calm down a bit now," remarked the Human Torch. The sealed doors and security force fields to the lab dropped now that the emergency had been resolved. Then HERBIE announced that there was a visitor to building.

"Reed Richards," began the Silver Surfer, "Your world is in dire peril."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Why is Galactus coming to eat the Earth again?" asked Johnny Storm for the third time. Norrin Radd, the alien being known most commonly as the Silver Surfer was about to explain the situation once more for the "hot headed" young meta-human. It was, after all, almost sort of his old job being a former herald of Galactus. However, Susan Storm-Richards relieved him of the necessity by explaining for him.

Somehow while travelling through this sector on a journey to a planet rich with life yet without any sentient beings, Galactus had come upon an anomaly in space-time. This anomaly joined Galactus to a version of himself in a parallel universe which had been destroyed in battle with a cosmic entity. This joining resulted in a powerful draining which restored the alternate universe Galactus, but leaving both versions in a weak and ravenous state. Galactus was simply too far from his destination to survive and had turned to devour Earth to sustain himself.

"What kind of a ridiculous plot device kind of reason is that?" asked the Human Torch with incredulity.

"Yes, it does seem highly improbable, Johnny Storm. However, I was a witness to this event. Which is why I am here to warn you. We must find a way to hold off Galactus long enough to find a solution. Dr. Richards, you must find the way. The rest of Earth's heroes will have to stall Galactus."

Mr. Fantastic immediately turned to his computers to work on solving the problem of a starving Galactus. That left it up to the Invisible Woman to begin looking for heroes who could delay Galactus. Neither was an enviable task.

"Alright, we'll need to contact the Avengers. Thor is our best bet. We could also try Doctor Strange and Adam Warlock. Surfer, I believe you know Warlock, right?" Sue looked at the glistening cosmic being as she asked. The Silver Surfer nodded. "Good, starting with these… "

Sue Storm Richards trailed off as alarms rang out throughout the science station. The voice of the artificial intelligent computer system gave voice to the warning sirens. "Sir, satellite sensors indicate the arrival of a huge interstellar vessel matching the description of Taa II, Galactus' Worldship. The ship dropped out of hyperspace on the side of the planet opposite the moon."

Everyone looked at Reed Richards expectantly. "Oh come on, guys, you can't expect me to solve an impossible situation like this, not without adequate time to prepare for it!" Reed looked at the team. "You've got to buy me more time."

Even as he spoke several super-powered individuals flew up to face the threat. Rogue of the X-Men, Iron Man and War Machine, the mighty Sentry, and the Inhuman Black Bolt flew up to into space to meet the challenge. The Silver Surfer nodded to the Fantastic Four and then turned to join the other heroes on their way to challenge his former master.

Reed thinking aloud provided some timely exposition for the rest of the team. "If I can program my Multiversal Quantum Probability Scanner/Projector with variables needed to find a solution to Galactus' threat, the universe itself may provide the solution for us. The difficulty, though, is in quantifying what we need in such a way that the scanner can find it. If a solution possibly exists, then according to theory it does exist. We just need to conceive of it."

Johnny Storm looked at Mr. Fantastic for a second. "Wait, are you telling me that anything that might exist does exist somewhere?"

"In theory, yes, Johnny…." Dr. Richards began.

"And your machine can find any universe or dimension we can think of and project that universe into our world?" the younger hero continued.

"Well, yes, but the complexity of defining such a universe…"

"Great, be right back!" exclaimed the excited meta-human as he burst into flame and flew off towards the team quarters. The remaining team members ignored the Human Torch, too busy with the imminent destruction of the world to think about what was going through his head. That changed when a minute later Johnny came back to the lab, no longer in his flaming form, holding a DVD in his hands which he inserted into the computer system.

"HERBIE, upload the data from this disc directly to the Quasi Multiverse Proba-something Projector!" The computer answered back, "You mean, the Multiversal Quantum Probability Scanner/Projector?" Johnny confirmed, "Exactly. Upload the whole series!"

"Johnny, what are you doing?" asked his older sister. Noticing the DVD case in his other hand, she surrounded it in a force field bubble and brought it over to herself. "Dragonball and Dragonball Z, the complete re-dubbed version? Jonathan Lowell Spencer Storm, this is not the time to be fooling around!"

Reed Richards stretched over to the console Johnny had been at. "It's ok, Sue. The computer won't recognize the input and just reject it. No harm done."

"Multiverse nexus located," came the announcement from the computer. "Shall I begin projecting?"

"WHAT?" came the chorus of the three disbelieving members of the Fantastic Four.

Johnny Storm, using another of the many computer consoles in the room, forwarded the DVD to a specific point near the end of the series. "Here! Project this into our universe."

"Johnny—!" Sue was about to scold her brother again. Her husband, however, forestalled her. "Well, Sue, at this point I don't think it can hurt anything. The worst that could happen would be that the whole city would blow up. But considering we are all probably about to be eaten by Galactus…."

The computer initiated the projection sequence and a series of white interlocking while lights began radiating from the machine's quantum core. Suddenly, a tall muscular figure with dark black hair shooting out from his head in distinctive spike shapes appeared in the middle of the laboratory. The man was wearing a blue martial arts outfit with a white sash for a belt.

He blinked a few times bewilderedly. "Where am I?" asked Son-Goku.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Goku looked around his surroundings. He was in a strange laboratory. It wasn't Capsule Corporation. Nor was it Dr. Gero's laboratory where the androids had been created, it was much too bright for that. He didn't recognize any of the people surrounding him. Three of them were wearing some sort of skintight blue clothing with a number "4" over their left breast. The fourth was a giant rock guy, or brick guy. They all had a strange power in them, different from what he would feel from someone with strong qi.

"Hi! I'm Johnny Storm, huge, huge fan." One of the people dressed in the blue outfits walked towards him and extended his hand. Not sure what to make of this, Goku took his hand and shook it. At least he wasn't being attacked. But then, that wasn't exactly such a good thing, considering.

"How did I get here? I was just about to fight against Uub in the 28th World Martial Arts Tournament when there was this weird white light. Then suddenly I'm here."

Another of the strangely clad people answered. This one had dark hair but with streaks of gray around the sides of his head. "You were temporally and spacially translocated between multiverses through a quantum singularity field." Goku blinked at him.

Johnny translated. "We used a machine to bring you from your world to our world." Now Goku understood.

"Okay. Then, who are you and why did you bring me here? Not that I don't like to travel, but I usually like to pick the time and destination before I go," the saiyan warrior quipped.

Johnny Storm smiled. "We're heroes, like you." He took a step back and let his body become engulfed in fire. "We're the Fantastic Four. They call me the Human Torch." He gestured to his sister, "That's the Invisible Woman, my sister…" Sue obliged by quickly turning invisible then back to visible again. Johnny continued on, "The nerdy guy who made the machine over there is Reed Richards, but people call him Mister Fantastic." Reed extended his arm a few feet to shake Goku's hand. "And that," Johnny indicated the Thing, "is Rockboy, also named Ben Grimm."

Thing took a swipe at Johnny in his flaming form. The agile prankster was too agile, though and took to the air, smacking his teammate with a playful blast of fire. Sue quickly stepped in and prevented further aggravation.

Returning to the ground and his non-incendiary form, Johnny Storm continued explaining the situation. "Unfortunately, Goku, we've got a problem we can't quite handle. At least, Reed there needs a lot more time. You see, there's this dude named Galactus who just showed up…"

"Oh, I see. So, this 'Cactus' guy is a really strong fighter? Did you do something to make him angry?"

"Actually, no. GALACTUS doesn't really have a problem with us. We've actually helped him out a few times and Johnny there even used work for him." Ben Grimm explained things in his down-to-earth way of talking. "The problem is that he's just really, really hungry."

"Well, I can understand that. I need to eat a lot too. You might want to call for help if you knew I was coming for dinner!" grinned Goku.

"Yeah," finished Ben, "but he's coming to eat the whole planet."

"The whole planet? Wow! Okay, I understand the emergency then. Sure, I'll help. So, how do I find this Galactus?" Goku was now eager for the upcoming fight. A person who can eat a planet would probably be a pretty good challenge.

"Oh, it won't be hard to find Galactus." Susan Storm-Richards gestured towards a large door. "Follow me. We're going up to the top of the building." She started towards a special lift followed by Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm. Goku joined them and the Thing-sized doors closed behind him. Reed stayed behind to work.

They got out on the hangar deck level. Goku looked over and noticed the sleek Fantasticar. He was impressed by the design, much fancier than he was accustomed to from Capsule Corporation. "So, are we taking that to go find Galactus?"

The Thing shook his head no and pointed up. "No need. Just look up."

Goku looked up in time to see several super heroes crashing back to the ground after their failed assaults. Then he noticed the gigantic Worldship taking up the entire sky, the massive Mobius-strip shaped tubes blocking out the stars of the night sky. And just beneath that massive vessel was the most titanic form the saiyan had ever seen.

Goku's jaw nearly dropped to the floor of the building. Up in the sky stood Galactus. His frame was the same size as a quarter of the earth's moon. He was dressed in a massive blue and red metallic tunic that accentuated his alieness. To further punctuate that effect, Galactus had an oddly shaped helmet that encased the massive, expressionless face. Twin shafts of flattened metal angled out from the jaw section of the helmet and then turned in right angles to point up above the cosmic being's head. It was an awe inspiring view, even to the mighty saiyan.

"That," said the Invisible Woman, "is Galactus." She held her hands out wide. "For some reason Johnny thought you might be able to do something about this. But, I'm afraid you will just be another one of the billions of victims consumed today."

"I am afraid Ms. Richards is correct, visitor," came a fluid sounding voice from just above them. "The mightiest of Earth's available heroes have all fallen, and the strength of the Power Cosmic within me is but a small fraction of that possessed by Galactus. My attempts to delay him have failed as well." The Silver Surfer hovered on his shiny metallic board.

The wonder on Goku's face turned to one of seriousness. Now he could feel it. Not a source of powerful energy as he had first expected, but rather a massive emptiness. A deep and terrible void was emanating from that colossal figure that threatened to swallow up all life and all energy. Now Goku understood the nature of what he was about to face.

"No, Ms. Invisible Woman, Johnny was right to bring me here." Goku began levitating off the ground with the power of his ki. "To blast something that size I'm going to need to power up to super saiyan levels." Goku looked up to the sky with intensity. He would not fail.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Goku clenched his fist and let out a yell of defiant power that echoed across the city as he increased his power level. Instantly, the saiyan was surrounded by a fierce golden glowing aura. His spikey hair shifted from ebon midnight to a vibrant yellow hue. His eyes widened and shifted from black to green as well. The transformation and yell of power was short-lived, but the entire building shook from the energy waves forming around the mighty super saiyan.

"Whoah! Cool!" cheered the Human Torch wildly. Ben Grimm stood with his hands shielding his face. Susan Storm-Richards gasped at the revealed power of their guest.

Goku cupped his hands to his side as he focused his eyes intently on the massive being above him. His gaze narrowed as he began to intone his attack. "Ka….me… ha…me…."

Back down in the laboratory, dozens of alarms went off to warn Mr. Fantastic of the power readings they were getting. Reed Richards looked at the power indicators with amazement. Just above Four Freeoms Plaza was a power source so great that it would completely obliterate the entire Earth a hundred times over, and that power was still increasing!

"…HAAAA!" roared Goku as he threw his arms forward to fire his kamehameha wave up towards the mighty Galactus. The wave took the form of a tide of dense, blue energy as wide as the top of the building. The beam streaked up as a mighty pulse in the sky, like a searchlight shining up into the heavens. It struck Galactus directly in the chest and continued to crash into him for a full minute as Goku spent the attack.

Galactus was not even moved.

The Silver Surfer regarded Goku with some interest. "An impressive display of power. Few beings I have ever encountered have as much power as you have demonstrated. Worlds would fall before that strike. But Galactus is beyond even that. He is a part of the universe itself."

"I can't believe Galactus could take a full kamehameha wave from a super saiyan and not even be moved. I thought that would at least knock him backwards," frowned the Human Torch, clearly disappointed.

"Wow, surprising!" exclaimed the saiyan. "But I'm not done yet." Goku looked down to where the members of the Fantastic 4 and the Silver Surfer waited. "Don't be alarmed while I'm powering up. Things will shake and there might be a bit of damage, but I know the limits of this planet. To be safe though, I'd better gain a little more altitude."

Goku shot up through the air, closing the distance between him and the slowly descending Devourer of Worlds, but putting more distance between himself and the planet. Johnny looked at the others. "This I've got to see!" He shot up into the air in a bright column of flame following Goku.

Having reached a point he though should be safe to transform, Goku put a halt to his ascent. Now it was time for another kind of ascension. Looking up, he saw Galactus' penetrating eyes of white staring down at him.

So, that first kamehameha had gotten his attention. Well, that was going to be nothing next to his next act.

The saiyan balled his fists. Silently, seemingly effortlessly, Goku made the transition from super saiyan, to ascended super saiyan. The aura around him brightened considerably and greatly intensified. His golden pointy hair lengthened and took on an electric, shiny luster. Ripples of lightning-like energy coursed around his body with crackling snaps. The transition to the next stage was complete.

However, Goku knew that he would need to go all out to stop the being towering above him. He had no illusion that this figure would engage him in hand to hand combat, and he was battle savvy enough to guess that Galactus would slowly leech his power away of Goku came close enough for melee. No, it would need to be his signature attack again, but this time with his full power behind it.

The saiyan began to amp up his power once again. This time, Goku unleashed an incredible yell that echoed across the sky and continued to rise in pitch and volume as he continued. The golden aura surrounding Goku began pulsing outwards at a greater and greater frequency. A hurricane force erupted from Goku's vicinity blowing outwards and becoming more and more violent. The power of Goku's transformation began to shake the city.

In Four Freedoms Plaza, Mr. Fantastic was looking at the readings his sensors were getting in alarm. The ambient power around the building was continuing to build at an exponential level. The entire regional weather pattern was being disrupted. Most alarming, however, was reports of worldwide seismic readings. The entire earth was beginning to vibrate and those vibrations would soon become strong enough to be felt as earthquakes. "Whatever he's doing, this has got to stop soon or there won't be a planet left for Galactus to eat!"

Goku, the lastborn pureblooded child of the entire saiyan race, wasn't finished. Night turned to a golden day as the light energy he was releasing for this transformation spread over first the city, then the state of New York, and then as his yell reached its climax, finally over the entire northern hemisphere. The glowing power even engulfed the Devourer of Worlds and his Worldship. The whole Earth shook violently, and some cars down on street level even began to float upwards.

His power was felt far beyond the confines of Earth. In Asgard all the Asgardian gods turned their attention to Midgard, the realm of Earth, in disbelief at the power that was being unleashed. On Mount Olympus all were in shock wondering what sort of new god with such terrible strength had arrived on the planet to upset the balance. Beings of great power across the cosmos took notice of this display of power, some simply making note of another event in the universe, others considering the ramifications to their own interests in this unique planet.

Finally, with a burst of blindingly brilliant light, Goku was fully transformed. Abruptly, the shaking of the world ceased. A great glowing cascade of golden hair ran down the entire length of his back. His once slender physique now bulged with musculature.

The home of the Fantastic Four still stood. Several smaller buildings surrounding them would have sustained serious damage were it not for the Invisible Woman bracing them with her force fields. Johnny Storm had been physically blown backwards until he had been caught and steadied by the Silver Surfer. In the laboratory, Reed Richards was lamenting the damage to his systems. Virtually all his scanning equipment had been damaged from proximity to that release of power.

In this, his most powerful form, Goku looked up to the mighty Galactus without a hint of fear. Boldly, he called out his challenge. "I've been told you have come to this world to destroy it and end all life here. Well, I'm not going to let you do that. I'm going to give you the chance to turn around, go back to your ship, and leave in piece." Goku's gaze was intense. "If you do not, I will destroy you. I will not allow the innocent people of this world to be harmed."

A moment passed before the incredible titan replied. "Do not interfere, traveler. This is not your world or even your universe. I HUNGER and I MUST feed. Be gone from here and I will forgive your insolence towards me this time." Galactus' gaze bore down into Goku from above.

Goku did not waver. "No way. If you won't turn aside from this course, then I must stop you." With that, Goku began to charge his attack, his voice taking on an otherworldly echo.

"Kaaa…. meeeeeeeee…." an intense ball of blue formed in Goku's hands. The power of the ball crackled in intensity. This was clearly several orders of magnitude greater than the first. "….haaaaaaa…meeeeeeeeeeee…." Galactus looked down on the minute form charging a vast power. For a moment, Galactus considered scrambling his molecules. Instead, though, he began to reach his giant arm forwards. "HAAAAA!" screamed Goku as he released his full power.

The beam raced up under the outstretched arm of Galactus to strike the colossus in the chest, the beam wide enough to cover its entirety and yet incredibly dense. Galactus began to be pushed backwards by the great concussive force. The world devourer exerted all his effort to resist the tide of that power. Seeing this, Goku shouted, "FULL POWER!" and the beam doubled in intensity, the saiyan exhausting all his stores in this single epic attack. The mighty saiyan maintained the beam of energy, by far the greatest release of ki ever witnessed in the Marvel Multiverse.

Galactus was flung back away from the planet. He resisted the press of the beam, yet still he was knocked back until he was finally pushed back to the great bulk of Taa II. There he was held until Goku's massive strength gave out.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Goku looked up. He was panting, completely winded and without any strength left to spare. His golden hair shortened and returned to its natural black color. The saiyan hero allowed himself to drop back to the hangar deck of Four Freedoms Plaza.

There he was met by Johnny Storm, Sue Storm-Richards, Ben Grimm, and the Silver Surfer. The four of them were completely awed.

"THAT was AWESOME!" exclaimed the Human Torch. "It was everything I ever imagined it would be like to meet you! You rock soo much!"

"Remind me to never get in a fight with you," commented the Thing. Sue just shook her head.

The Silver Surfer bowed. "Truly, you are a power the universe must reckon with. I never expected a mortal being existed who had a power great enough to physically drive back Galactus as you did. Before today I had never seen any but the gods of the universe do so."

Goku looked at the four apologetically. "I'm sorry, guys. I just couldn't destroy him. Even using every ounce of strength I had it wasn't enough. I'm not even sure if a spirit bomb drawn from all the universe will be enough."

"Don't apologize, Goku," came the voice of Reed Richards. "You may have caused some major damage to this city, but you just might have saved the whole world. You gave me enough time to come up with what I think will keep Galactus from eating us. We all owe you our deepest gratitude."

"Well, that's good," replied Goku. "How will you stop him?"

"With the Ultimate Nullifier," explained Mr. Fantastic. "I've sort of manufactured my own version of it. It will be impossible for Galactus to tell it from the real thing." For Goku's benefit, Mr. Fantastic explained what it was for Goku's benefit.

"Gee, I wish my villains left weapons powerful enough to destroy themselves lying around. Would have made handling Majin Buu a lot easier!"

As Galactus returned, the Silver Surfer brought Reed Richards up with him on his board to face him. Goku rode with Ben Grimm in the Fantasticar. "Stop right there, Galactus. If you attempt to eat our world, we will destroy you. We have your Ultimate Nullifier and will use it in defense of our world!" called Mr. Fantastic.

"WAIT. There is no more need for that," came the imperious voice of Galactus. "I no longer need to devour your world." The great being regarded those before him. He took particular note of the Silver Surfer.

"Goku." The statement of his name from the powerful being was like an invocation. "Inhabitant of another Earth. Your actions this day have saved this world from my hunger." Goku felt a powerful probing of his mind and body. "Your power comes from your spirit. It comes from life. Were your energy of some other source, it is likely that in my extremely weakened and vulnerable condition I would have perished. And with my destruction, the entirety of this universe would have been doomed."

"Doomed?" the saiyan asked in confusion.

"Yes. I am an embodiment of entropy. My existence serves to hold back the primal forces that would tear this universe apart. Yet the cost of my existence is my hunger. So, I must feed. I do not feel remorse for the deaths I have caused, the entire planets I have destroyed. It is what I am. What I MUST be."

The gathered heroes looked on in surprise. Chatting away like this was not at all typical of an encounter with the great Devourer. Even the Silver Surfer found this familiarity to be surprising.

Galactus continued. "It is not my wont to explain myself to anyone. However, Goku, I need you to understand so that you can decide."

"Decide what?" the saiyan asked.

"Decide if you will become my herald." The Surfer turned to look at Goku warningly. He knew what all such service entailed. But before he could say anything, Galactus continued.

"I need you to cooperate with me willingly. For in you, Goku, I can see my own salvation. I need energy to continue to live. I can absorb and manipulate energy of any kind. However, when it comes to sustaining my own life force against the power that drains it, only life energy is compatible. I can use other energies to some extent, but they are inefficient. For that reason it was necessary for me to consume living worlds, for only in that had my hunger been sated for any length of time. Until I faced you."

"When I absorbed your energy, it filled me up. Not only that, but the one in another dimension with which I had become connected was filled as well. With my power restored, I have been freed of that connection. Yet still, your power was great enough to sate my hunger twice over." Galactus paused. "Now, how soon will you again have the strength to do as you just have?"

Goku shrugged. "Well, if I had a senzu bean I wouldn't have to wait. But, I guess after a few good meals I'll be good to go."

"Then, for the sake worlds uncounted, I ask you to accept my offer and become my new herald." Galactus turned his gaze to the Silver Surfer. "For my former servant, it was a solemn and dark duty. His task was to prepare worlds for my coming and destruction. For you, though, Goku," Galactus turned back to regard the saiyan, "I promise it will be a glorious role. While you shall serve to grant me sustenance first and foremost, you shall also serve to announce my coming to many worlds across the cosmos. And at your word I shall come. Not to destroy, but to set right injustice and be a bulwark against chaos."

"Hmm…" Goku mused, "it seems like something I'd like to do. But I have just one question…" Everyone looked at him expectantly. "Do I still get to be called Goku? Grandfather Gohan gave me that name."

Galactus nodded. "Certainly. You shall still be yourself. You will be both Goku and my herald. I make a promise not to interfere with your mind or will so long as serve to sustain me. And I shall be beholden to you as I have never been to any of my former heralds."

"Ok, then. I'll do it!" Goku smiled.

"Then, Goku of Earth. I take you as my Herald." Galactus extended his hand to encompass Goku. "And I impart to you the Power Cosmic!" Great cosmic energy poured from Galactus, a form of energy unfamiliar to Goku. That is, it was unfamiliar to him until his physical form began to rearrange and he began to possess the cosmic awareness that came with his new position.

Everyone gasped.

Son-Goku, hero now of two Earths and countless other planets stood before them an altered being. Where his hair and eyes had been black, they now shone with a silver luster. His outfit was no longer blue, now it shone as if a blend of crystal and metallic material. A curious "G" symbol was emblazoned over the left breast of the outfit.

Goku, herald of Galactus, smiled and extended his hand palm down. "NIMBUS!" he called out. Then, forming below his fingertips, appeared an ethereal cloud of mystic silver. Goku stood on the cloud and it supported him in midair. He could feel the cloud now as an extension of himself.

Galactus bid Goku spend his time on Earth recovering his natural strength. The former Devourer of Worlds returned to his Worldship to make plans. Finally, he could concentrate his powers and energies on accomplishing something more than simply surviving and existing for the purpose of existence. There was much to think on.

After eating a tremendous dinner at the Fantastic Four's expense, Reed Richards offered to help Goku communicate with the people in his own universe. "Oh, right! I almost forgot. Chi-chi would kill me if I didn't tell her where I was going. Again."

With a stable connection back to Goku's universe, Goku contacted his family telepathically.

_-Hi guys! Don't worry about me. _

_-GOKU? What happened? You just disappeared from the World Martial Arts Tournament. Are you okay?_

_-I'm fine here. I had to fight a guy the size of a moon to stop him from eating the Earth of this universe. But it's taken care of. We're friends now and I'm going to go off with him to see the universe, sort of introducing him. And keeping him from eating more worlds. Everything is ok._

_-So, you'll be coming back now?"_

_-I won't be home right away, and I guess this is going to be a full time job. I already got new clothes for it. And I've got a whole new bunch of techniques to try out! Oh, I've got a new name._

_-A new name? You've already got two- Kakkarot and Goku. Why do you need another one?_

_-The giant who's giving me the job always calls the people he works for this._

_You can still call me Goku, but I think if you try and reach me at work in this universe you should use my new name. _

_-What is it?_

_-Harold of Galactus_

The End


End file.
